Ryan budget would reduce transportation funds

Capped at 2008 levels

Marci Gilbert, Apr 10, 11.

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan has put forward a proposed budget resolution calling for sweeping changes that would have a profound impact on the nation’s investments in infrastructure, according to a story in Transportation for America.

Ryan’s budget would cap transportation spending at 2008 levels. Noting that the general fund has been tapped for $35 billion in recent years to cover shortfalls in the highway trust fund, his proposal aims to keep the fund “solvent without additional general fund transfers or increases in the gasoline tax.” The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the gas tax will raise $230 billion over the next six years. That’s more than $50 billion below SAFETEA-LU, the current transportation law.

The proposed budget would cut at least $17 billion in transportation investment per year over the next several years, according to one analysis. The proposal does not address specific funding levels or cuts for individual programs, and it has as little to say about policy except for a strong bias against inter-city rail. His proposal also contains a misleading statement that would seem to blame bike trails for the shortfall in the trust fund. For the record, those items amount to less than 1.5 percent of annual outlays, while paying enormous dividends in safety, health, reduced energy consumption and quality of life.

“We share the Chairman’s desire to ‘focus every dollar on pursuing a targeted and cohesive national transportation policy,’” said James Corless, director of Transportation for America. “However, we cannot get to ‘targeted and cohesive’ by having budget writers make narrow and premature choices about which modes matter and which ones don’t.”

Corless added that the sweeping nature of Ryan’s budget proposal makes it all the more critical that we begin serious debate, soon, on passing a smarter transportation authorization.

“For our money, that will necessarily include, at a minimum, realigning the highway program to emphasize repair and rebuilding our roads and bridges (see our report on the latter here); enabling communities to meet their needs for more and better transportation options; and insisting that state transportation agencies account for their progress on road and bridge maintenance, access for people of all ages and incomes and providing alternatives to congestion,” said Corless. “These are the policies that will ensure our future economic prosperity and quality of life.”

Source: Transportation for America